20 Years of Super Mario World, and the Super Famicom

[badinsults]

It might shock some people, and probably be missed out in the wake of the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., but November 21, 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the Super Famicom, along with its flagship title, Super Mario World. This game served as the main selling point for the system when it was released, and is still regarded as one of the greatest SNES games. I have written an article about this wonderful game, including a close look at the extensive list of Super Mario World hacks.


Click Here for article

[paulguy]

Good interesting article. A bit of a shame about your experience with super mario world ROM hacks, but some are really pretty good, despite not working well on original hardware. Some of the more obscure ones that I forget the name about have been rather interesting and had decent level design without being too annoyingly difficult, but there are a LOT of really horrible "kaizo" ripoff hacks.

And now some typos :p

The music it cheery and upbeat, though most of the songs are just remixed versions of the first level's song.

The bonus stages found after finding the secret exit to Star Road 5 provide an excellent challenge to to extend the game.

It took me about an hour to pass it because the author doesn't give you the opportunity to get a new Yoshi in spots where you are likely to lose him. No typos here but the sentence seems to say something you don't intend to.

[snkcube]

Great article as always. I did catch one grammar problem though.

The game also underutilized the SNES specific scaling features, only displaying them during boss scenes).

[grinvader]

Yea, SMW's secret exits concept is awesome. Most recent games don't have anything like that.

Although, when talking about hacks, you mention how you find it bad when you need to be in a specific state to pull something - the original SMW had that too:
- a 'shortcut' in vanilla fortress iirc where you could only go if you were small mario (or TASing)
- that secret exit in butter or cheese bridge was only reachable with a flying yosh or the cape (and decent skills)
- one secret exit in forest of illusion ?? requires being big to spinjump and break blocks to reach a key
- one secret exit in bowser's valley ?? requires a yoshi to grab the key through a wall [it's extremely easy to lose the yoshi, and you can't find a new one if you fuck up along the way]
... probably others. Plenty of those.

[Ichinisan]

Yea, SMW's secret exits concept is awesome. Most recent games don't have anything like that.

Although, when talking about hacks, you mention how you find it bad when you need to be in a specific state to pull something - the original SMW had that too:
- a 'shortcut' in vanilla fortress iirc where you could only go if you were small mario (or TASing)
- that secret exit in butter or cheese bridge was only reachable with a flying yosh or the cape (and decent skills)
- one secret exit in forest of illusion ?? requires being big to spinjump and break blocks to reach a key
- one secret exit in bowser's valley ?? requires a yoshi to grab the key through a wall [it's extremely easy to lose the yoshi, and you can't find a new one if you fuck up along the way]
... probably others. Plenty of those.

I didn't read his article yet, but I believe he was saying that romhackers designed levels where you couldn't proceed at all if you weren't in a specific state. You'd have no choice but suicide.

[badinsults]

Yea, SMW's secret exits concept is awesome. Most recent games don't have anything like that.

Although, when talking about hacks, you mention how you find it bad when you need to be in a specific state to pull something - the original SMW had that too:
- a 'shortcut' in vanilla fortress iirc where you could only go if you were small mario (or TASing)
- that secret exit in butter or cheese bridge was only reachable with a flying yosh or the cape (and decent skills)
- one secret exit in forest of illusion ?? requires being big to spinjump and break blocks to reach a key
- one secret exit in bowser's valley ?? requires a yoshi to grab the key through a wall [it's extremely easy to lose the yoshi, and you can't find a new one if you fuck up along the way]
... probably others. Plenty of those.

I didn't read his article yet, but I believe he was saying that romhackers designed levels where you couldn't proceed at all if you weren't in a specific state. You'd have no choice but suicide.

That is exactly what I say. The one example I gave was the level that you could only pass as Yoshi, and there were lots of places you could lose him. That leaves you no choice but to die for no good reason.


I'll fix the errors.

[paulguy]

- that secret exit in butter or cheese bridge was only reachable with a flying yosh or the cape (and decent skills)

This is possible to do with just normal Mario and a Yoshi. I know this because I ... never made the mental connection to use a flying Yoshi when I was little. Kinda like how I never knew about the easier way to beat Tubular aside from the P balloon method. Just made things harder on myself! D:

[grinvader]

Kinda like how I never knew about the easier way to beat Tubular aside from the P balloon method. Just made things harder on myself! D:

Well, I clear tubular with the P stuff, and i clear that secret exit with the cape on a second run (for the cheesy start+select if i get hit midflight, so i keep the cape and just restart the stage).

I remember thinking the blue yoshi was the ultimate thing, but then I learnt how to actually use the cape. ;p

[adventure_of_link]

- a 'shortcut' in vanilla fortress iirc where you could only go if you were small mario (or TASing)

I remember such a short cut being in Bowser's Ghost House.

EDIT: I do remember the shortcut of which you speak, come to think of it. Too bad it still took you to the butar bridge IIRC.

- that secret exit in butter or cheese bridge was only reachable with a flying yosh or the cape (and decent skills)

Cheese Bridge. And it took you to soda lake.

- one secret exit in forest of illusion ?? requires being big to spinjump and break blocks to reach a key

Star World 1.

On another note, I never knew there was an easy way to clear Tubular... I always did the P balloon thing.

[Fras]

I remember having a hard time with tubular, but then I found out that pressing left+right made mario fly super fast to the right. :D
Not sure if that still works in new zsnes versions though.

[grinvader]

- one secret exit in forest of illusion ?? requires being big to spinjump and break blocks to reach a key

Star World 1.

On another note, I never knew there was an easy way to clear Tubular... I always did the P balloon thing.

No, not star world, dumbface. SW1 drops you a shroom first thing, since the WHOLE STAGE is about breaking blocks with spinjumps.

The Forest of illusion 4 or 5, the one on the bottom. Secret exit in a yellow pipe almost at the end of the stage. Yellow blocks over a key, keyhole right next to it.

[darkbenny]

Great article. SMW still remains as my best Christmas ever.

[Nightcrawler]

This article is making me want to replay Super Mario World again. It also makes me feel old that 20 years has passed already! It was one of those games that balanced everything right to make for a fun experience. That's a tough formula to get right and is lost in many subsequent games and ROM hacks.

All the sub par Super Mario World hacks are disappointing to me as well. It would be nice if you get some time to add some brief reviews to those hacks on RHDN to let others know which ones don't work on real hardware or accurate emulators so people don't have to waste their time with them.

[badinsults]

The problem is that pretty much all SMW hacks that might be worth playing break on real hardware. If a hack has custom music, it is a guarantee.

[franpa]

- a 'shortcut' in vanilla fortress iirc where you could only go if you were small mario (or TASing)

I remember such a short cut being in Bowser's Ghost House.

I believe the ghost house one requires (Or doesn't make alternate methods apparent) you to fly up while ducked and then jump repeatedly through the tiny gap while ducked.

[grinvader]

Bowser's Ghost House.

requires (Or doesn't make alternate methods apparent)

only because you suck



you're supposed to build a coin bridge to that one-block entry and then pow it into blocks, turning the coins into stairs so you can get to the exit

the 'fly ducked' is merely a faster way to reach it, and most people never did it that way (and never ab/used the various cape tricks)

[badinsults]

Bowser's Ghost House.

requires (Or doesn't make alternate methods apparent)

only because you suck



you're supposed to build a coin bridge to that one-block entry and then pow it into blocks, turning the coins into stairs so you can get to the exit

the 'fly ducked' is merely a faster way to reach it, and most people never did it that way (and never ab/used the various cape tricks)

Hell, that is the only way I have ever done it. Screw the coin stairs.

[kick]

Still the best Mario game ever

[ReRuss]

Still the best Mario game ever

Followed by a tie for 2nd SMB3 & Mario64, atleast imo...

[Ichinisan]

- a 'shortcut' in vanilla fortress iirc where you could only go if you were small mario (or TASing)

I remember such a short cut being in Bowser's Ghost House.

I believe the ghost house one requires (Or doesn't make alternate methods apparent) you to fly up while ducked and then jump repeatedly through the tiny gap while ducked.

I used to think that was the proper way, but it's not.

You're supposed to use the d-pad to control the string of coins, and hit a P-block so they turn solid. It's difficult, but you can line it up with the upper room floor and run through the opening as little Mario. When you have made a temporary floor, you can even slide through the gap when you're in big form.

(I see now that Grinvader covered this)

[Ichinisan]

it's entirely possible to finish the game by playing only 12 levels.

Make that 10 stages + Bowser's Castle. Yoshi's Island # 1 and the Yellow Switch Palace are not required. I use a blue shell and Yoshi to reach the key in the third Star Road stage.
[nevermind, I forgot about one of the star road levels]

Also, I'm fairly certain this does not show a raccoon suit. It's probably just persistent misinformation on the web. That's a normal Mario sprite with a random and unrelated graphic that coincidentally resembles a tail. If it was a tail, there'd be many more tail sprites too.

Here's the same sprite in the final version of SMW:


Good article.

I'd love to be a behind-the-scenes editor / proofreader for your site.

Some quick things:

... making me long [for] a button to hold down to run.

...which means he knew that this hack was broken and released it anyways

(lose the "s")

[badinsults]

it's entirely possible to finish the game by playing only 12 levels.

Make that 10 stages + Bowser's Castle. Yoshi's Island # 1 and the Yellow Switch Palace are not required. I use a blue shell and Yoshi to reach the key in the third Star Road stage.

Also, I'm fairly certain this does not show a raccoon suit. It's probably just persistent misinformation on the web. That's a normal Mario sprite with a random and unrelated graphic that coincidentally resembles a tail. If it was a tail, there'd be many more tail sprites too.

Here's the same sprite in the final version of SMW:


Good article.

I'd love to be a behind-the-scenes editor / proofreader for your site.

Some quick things:

... making me long [for] a button to hold down to run.

...which means he knew that this hack was broken and released it anyways

(lose the "s")

Well, you are welcome to proofread for me, but even the people at 1up didn't notice such things (I posted this nearly two months ago).

Yeah, 1up made this a feature article, but it wasn't like it really generated much in terms of hits or comments. I won't ever post an article on a major website again, it just isn't worth the bother. Unless they give me monetary rewards or unreleased prototypes (unlikely).

BTW, the Raccoon Mario thing is legit. If you look at the Burn IN ROM, there is no feather object, but there is a Leaf object. The Burn In Test cart was likely made before the final version of Super Mario World was decided on.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Also note that the left-most Mario has animal ears.